Boston Mayor Tom Menino has made official what he’s been saying for months: There’s no way Wal-Mart is opening a store in his city. What he really means is, there’s […]
Menino no Wal-Mart greeter
Posted inCriminal Justice, Economy, Transportation
Judge sends T dispute over warranty to jury
A federal judge has set a jury trial date for Nov. 7 in the MBTA’s $91.5 million suit against the maker of its faulty concrete ties, saying a “less than […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Legacy making
THERE ARE TWO ways to look at presidential legacies: what historians arrive at after a period of time or what sticks in the minds of the general public. They come […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Grossman’s binge fundraising
The sequence was almost as predictable as a September swoon for the Red Sox (how helpful to be able to dust that line off and get it back in circulation!). […]
Posted inEconomy, Transportation
North Station garage deal on shaky ground?
Members of the MassDOT board of directors are raising questions about the pending sale of the MBTA’s North Station garage, raising the possibility that the struggling transit agency could face […]
Posted inEconomy, The Back Story
Greenway lowers its BID price
The Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy has entered the final stretch of its effort to launch a Business Improvement District to help fund its operations. The conservancy has made concessions to […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Boston protests: It’s the economy, stupid
Yesterday’s announcement that Bank of America would begin next year charging customers $5 a month for the long-free privilege of using a debit card to make purchases could hardly have […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, The Download
Mass. sheriffs: Populist positions or partisan pandering?
How often do you hear about what the state’s county sheriffs are doing, except at election time or in stories about patronage hiring? In Massachusetts, the office has been marginalized […]
Posted inPolitics
Mass lawmakers key in postal fight
Massachusetts lawmakers may play key roles in deciding the fate of the US Postal Service, which is struggling to adapt as the volume of American mail keeps declining. US Rep. […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
ProPublica zeroes in on Fair Districts Mass
A ProPublica investigation found that some independent groups promoting redistricting plans across the country are anything but. It’s probably no surprise that one of the organizations that they probed was […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
The immigrant wedge
If it’s election season, it’s time to ratchet up the rhetoric about immigration, and the fatter the target, the better. That’s why in-state college tuition for the children of illegal […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Professor says Boston attractive casino site
Casino operators will bid very aggressively for a license to operate in the Boston area if gambling legislation passes, but Massachusetts officials should go slowly in selecting the eventual winner, […]
Posted inPolitics
Arraignment question: Who did O’Brien bribe?
Former Probation Commissioner John J. O’Brien pled not guilty this morning in Suffolk Superior Court to conspiracy and bribery charges but the longest shadow cast over the proceedings was by […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Firefighters’ folly
It seemed like something from the Onion. But stories about the antics of the Boston firefighters union often have the feeling of parody about them. The union is heading to […]
Posted inArts and Culture, The Download, Uncategorized
OH MY GOD!
Yes, that was my reaction when I read the small editorial in this morning’s Boston Globe about a small Catholic university in Pennsylvania rescinding its invitation to syndicated columnist Ellen […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Student churn hinders progress
Massachusetts education officials are celebrating the dramatic MCAS test improvements posted by the state’s most chronically underperforming schools. These impressive gains are testimony to hard work and a stubborn unwillingness […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Confronting our dropout crisis
Across the state students are settling into a new school year. Unfortunately, more than 8,000 of their former classmates won’t be joining them—the result of a dropout crisis that affects […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
Feds, in Worcester, investigate probation
CORRECTION: Because of a reporting error, the location of the federal grand jury investigating patronage at the state’s Probation Department was misidentified in the original version of this story. The […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Voting not to participate
What if they held an election and nobody came? It darn near happened in Brockton this week when only 4.7 percent of voters turned out for the city’s preliminary election. […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Mass Dems needle Scott Brown on gay rights
The Massachusetts Democratic Party celebrated the demise of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ by putting Scott Brown on the defensive before what should have been a marquee moment for the Massachusetts […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Pay to play on Beacon Hill
The first indictments in the long-simmering scandal over rigged hiring at the state’s Probation Department are in. It’s no surprise that former Probation Commissioner John O’Brien has been brought up […]
Posted inPolitics
Coakley indicts O’Brien, Cahill aide
Indictments unsealed today by Attorney General Martha Coakley allege the commissioner of the state’s Probation Department and the one-time chief of staff to former state Treasurer Tim Cahill engaged in […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Coakley indicts O’Brien, Cahill aide
Indictments unsealed today by Attorney General Martha Coakley allege the commissioner of the state’s Probation Department and the one-time chief of staff to former state Treasurer Tim Cahill engaged in […]